Toyota might build third auto base in burgeoning India

NAGOYA – Toyota Motor Corp. is considering building a new automobile plant in India to meet growing demand there, it was learned Friday.

The plant, which would be Toyota’s third production base in India, may be located in Hosur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, sources said.

Toyota is aiming to launch the plant’s operations around 2016, they said.

The carmaker already has a plant in a suburb of Bangalore in southern India capable of producing 160,000 vehicles a year. Among the models it churns out is the Etios, Toyota’s strategic car targeting emerging markets. The company intends to boost that factory’s annual capacity to 310,000 units by the end of the next business year.

Toyota also operates an engine factory near the assembly plant.

The planned increase in production capacity stems from Toyota’s estimates that India’s automobile market is expected to continue growing, the sources said. India is also the company’s hub for exports to other emerging markets, including South Africa.

Toyota is meanwhile set to launch the Etios in Brazil later this month.